The Referendum and Initiative in Michigan

• Author: John A. Fairlie
• Published date: 01 September 1912
• Date: 01 September 1912
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/000271621204300109
• Subject Matter: Articles

(146)

THE

REFERENDUM

AND

INITIATIVE

IN

MICHIGAN

BY

JOHN

A.

FAIRLIE,

PH.D.,

Professor

of

Political

Science,

University

of

Illinois,

and

Member

of

the

Michigan

Constitutional

Convention,

1907-8.

To

those

who

consider

the

Oregon

plan

of

the

initiative

and

referendum

as

the

ideal

and

perfect

form

of

direct

popular

legislation,

there

may

seem

little

occasion

for

giving

any

attention

to

the

State

of

Michigan

in

a

study

of

this

method

of

direct

democracy.

The

provisions

in

the

constitution

of

1908

for

the

popular

initiative

of

constitutional

amendments

and

a

referendum

on

acts

of

the

legis-

lature

are

limited

and

restricted

in

comparison

with

those

of

Oregon;

and

thus

far

the

method

of

proposing

amendments

has

not

been

called

into

operation.

Nevertheless,

Michigan

is

a

state

which

has

in

the

past

made

an

extensive

use

of

the

popular

referendum

on

con-

stitutional

amendments

and

some

other

measures;

and

its

experience

in

this

field

throws

light

on

the

value

of

this

procedure.

Moreover

the

process

by

which

the

provisions

of

the

new

constitution

were

formulated

serves

to

illustrate

some

of

the

problems

of

constructive

legislation;

and

the

provisions

themselves

are

of

interest

as

an

attempt

to

meet

some

of

the

criticisms

on

the

Oregon

plan.

The

Referendum, 1835-1908

The

first

State

Constitution

of

Michigan,

adopted

in

1835,

was

submitted

to

popular

ratification,

at

a

time

when

such

a

referendum

was

becoming

common,

but

before

this

practice

had

been

definitely

established

throughout

the

United

States.

This

constitution

also

provided

that

amendments

thereto

should

be

submitted

to

popular

vote;

and

further

contained

what

was

then

a

novel

provision

author-

izing

the

legislature

to

submit

to

popular

vote

a

proposal

for

a

con-

vention

&dquo; to

revise

or

change

this

entire

constitution.&dquo;

Few

referendum

votes

were

taken

under

the

provisions

of

this

constitution.

In

1849

an

amendment

was

submitted

and

adopted

making

the

judges

of

the

supreme

court

elective;

and

a

year

later

a

constitutional

convention

was

called.

The

second

constitution,

of